Santa Fe, New Mexico

November, 2000

Every other Thanksgiving we visit a place we've never been before. This year we decided to visit New Mexico to see parts of the Southwest and to learn more about Native American heritage. We used Santa Fe as our home base.

Tuesday Travel

OAK to ABQ
On Tuesday the 20th we flew from Oakland to Albuquerque. Kevin started his photography career taking the picture on the left at the Oakland Airport.
We had to wait a long time at ABQ to get our rental car, so the boys did what typical weary holiday travelers do at the airport: they hunkered down and played Pokemon.

We arrived at the Inn of the Anasasi in the late afternoon, had a quick walk around town and had a spicy dinner at the Coyote Cafe.

Wednesday Wandering

Kevin is trying to discipline me at breakfast.

After a late brunch on Wednesday we took off on a day trip to see the ruins of an American Indian village in Bandelier National Monument.

Los Alamos National Laboratory on the road to Bandelier

This was an incredible village built partially in caves along volcanic cliffs, and the rest in a circular town built of rock. At its peak in 1500AD there were between 500 and 1000 inhabitants.

This picture was taken from inside one of the cliff dwellings overlooking the ruins of the circular village on the ground. We took lots of great pictures there, click here to see more.

Thanksgiving Thursday

After a crystal clear day on Wednesday, we woke up to find that a snowstorm had moved in overnight and dropped a few inches of snow on the ground. The view out our window in the morning was spectacular. The snow stayed unspoiled for quite a few hours before the shovels and snowblowers kicked in.

	The doorman built a snowman with all the snow he shoveled up from the sidewalk. Apple eyes, carrot nose, and a moustache of chili peppers!

We walked around town for awhile to enjoy the sight of white shrouded adobe. One picture I took looked like a painting. I processed it a bit back in the room to give it a watercolor feel.

The rest of the day was very quite - the town was closed for the holiday so we decided to take in a movie. Though Thanksgiving is typically a big movie day, the residents of Santa Fe don't buy into that. We saw "Rugrats in Paris" with about 20 other people at 1:45 in the afternoon. A fun movie, with a highlight being the trailer for "Shrek" showing at the beginning. We were planning to have a hot dog lunch at the theater, but for some reason they weren't cooking.

The boys were in desperate need of a meal before we headed back, even though we were looking forward to a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. We stopped for a bite and were very thankful we weren't having dinner in a diner.

Finally, back at the hotel.

We went back to the room and discovered that the roof was leaking into our room, soaking the bench and cushions below the window. After housekeeping took away some of our furniture we went downstairs to a nice Thanksgiving dinner in the hotel resturant.

Friday Fun: Shopping, Sightseeing and Snowballing

Friday was our final full day in Santa Fe, so we tried to be tourists. Our plans were hampered by the fact that none of us woke up until after 9am, and by the time we finished breakfast is was approaching noon. We had no ill feelings though, sleeping in and eating late is what vacations were designed for. With full bellies we headed out. We visited the famous spiral staircase at the Loretto Chapel, got pounded with snowballs, walked along the park, got pounded with snowballs and went shopping for lamps for La Honda. When we came out of the store we got pounded with snowballs. (See image above of the guys with their arsenal of snowballs lined up and waiting for us in the parking lot.)
That evening the town was all lit up for the holidays. Below is a montage of the plaza lights.

Saturday
We went home.